An asphalt roadway is prone to losing its surface friction, or skid resistance, over time due to the traffic that utilizes the roadway. As the surface friction is reduced through the gradual wear that the tires impart on the asphalt, the ability of a vehicle to brake or maneuver is also reduced, thus leading to an increased chance of vehicular accidents.
In view of this, most roadways are now monitored to ensure that the roadways maintain adequate surface friction between the roadway surface and the tires of the vehicles using the roadways. This generally includes the use of the Locked Wheel Skid Trailer test to obtain skid number results. Based on this test, once the skid number falls below a threshold value, an action is taken to restore the surface friction to an adequate level. This can include resurfacing the roadway or reviving the surface in some other manner.
As there are costs involved with this monitoring and testing, tests and machines have been developed for testing an asphalt sample before using that particular type of asphalt on a roadway. Performing these tests before laying an asphalt material for a roadway ensures that the material will have properties that are ideal for that roadway.
Particular testing includes machines that attempt to anticipate how an asphalt material will wear over time. As different asphalt aggregates resist wear at different rates, these machines and tests have provided insight into the wear rates of the aggregates. This insight can then be used to determine the appropriate material to use on a particular roadway.
However, the known machines for preparing asphalt samples lack consistency and efficiency. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved machine for preparing asphalt samples for further testing.